How to get an artist to talk to you -
An interview with Steph Baxter
QUESTIONS Could you explain where you currently sit within the creative industry? Meaning, what kind of designer are you, and what kind of work do you produce most? Just to get an idea of how you transformed from a university student to where you are now, could you draw a flowchart of the big stages & decisions you faced? Clients that changed your career? Could you describe how university was, being an illustrator on a graphic design course? Are you freelance? Have you had experience with agencies or any kind of management? I regularly see your work in Paperchase, could you tell me a bit about how that licence worked? Usual timelines, creative freedom, copyright? Similarly, working with any publisher, who gets in touch first? What do they expect from you?
Who do you enjoy designing for the most? I’ve noticed your style change recently, are you aiming work at a different audience? How important is social media to your career? To what degree do you want to inject yourself into the brand? Something we both have in common is running an online business, yours being The Happy Pencil. Do you spend more time working freelance, or for the shop? How much do you focus on it? Does it bring you client work?
I found Steph 3-4 years ago during artist research for a college project, and her engaging, fun lettering style greatly influenced my own approach. After realising that she attended the same university, I contacted her in the hope that she could offer a relevant perspective on where I hope to take my practice. We met for lunch in central Leeds, where she is a local. This set an informal tone, and the interview naturally evolved into more of a conversation, where I used my pre written questions as topical prompts.
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Steph Baxter
Steph Baxter
We had a good discussion about our place in the industry, as commercial types, and shared experiences of running our online shops, along with the intricacies of being your own brand through social media. Steph shared some relevant pointers, such as the awkwardness of identifying as an illustrator when she specialises in lettering, and couldn’t be paid enough to draw a horse. Identifying as an illustrator indicates you are able to draw anything, which I know is not true for me, either! The term ‘letterer’ is becoming more known, so the right clients get in touch. On this topic, it is vital to keep an up to date portfolio, showcasing only the work you’re happy to reproduce. This can be manipulated, too, by dedicating time to targeted side projects. Designing a range of greetings cards will attract publishers, while a tea packaging rebrand could attract supermarkets, etc.
“My last 6 clients found me through Instagram” Speaking to Steph resonated some of the concerns I had previously picked up during Big Head talks, such as how difficult it is to get a
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Steph Baxter {2017}
reelance career started, once graduated. Like other professionals we’ve heard from this year, Steph couldn’t find a job relevant to her degree and eventually had to take part time work in a shop, where she balanced odd freelance jobs. However, it was a waiting game and eventually her side jobs became promising enough to give her the security to take the jump into self employment. This seems to be a common path, however it comes with the possibility that you never manage to focus on design and eventually lose touch. This emphasised how important it is to have plans in place before graduating. “Fred was right!”. A focal point in our discussion was licensing artwork, as it will be crucial to my career as a commercial illustrator and product designer. Linking back, Steph recommended pre designing ranges of greetings cards so they can be licensed as quick money, or a good way of getting a publisher to be interested in you. I will have to weigh up the benefits of this, though, as she mentioned that royalties with cards are very low, and the time could be better spent selling them by myself. This indicates that I should look for non exclusive licenses where I can continue selling them myself, too.
I asked Steph to visualise, in a flow chart, her journey from graduate to where she is now, and she kindly produced a gorgeous illustrated piece that will now decorate my bedroom wall, forever! It’s interesting to see the milestones she chose to highlight, especially that the greetings card license with Lagom greatly boosted her client exposure, and continues to, years later. This raised another pointer, that although she operates under “The Happy Pencil” she chooses to put her own name on the back of cards so she, as the illustrator, creates a name for herself, instead of only the secondary brand. This is a point I need to address before I leave university and begin to build a career. Will it be through the shop, myself as an illustrator, or both? Will separating the two confuse people? The interview with Steph opened my eyes to more advanced decisions I need to make as I progress after graduation, but also calmed my nerves about various intricacies, such as the ins and outs of licensing artwork, and the fact that as a freelancer you are in control of how much work you take on at once. Many artists take bookings so they are able to focus on one project at a time… so maybe Art School is trying to scare us, after all?
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Steph Baxter